Fourth man arrested in Hawks case

Marisa O’Neil

Police on Thursday made a fourth arrest -- the third in just one week

-- in the disappearance and presumed homicide of a retired couple who

lived on a yacht in the harbor.

Newport Beach police detectives and Long Beach police gang-unit

officers arrested John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 39, of Long Beach on

suspicion of killing Tom and Jackie Hawks.

Kennedy was taken into custody at 11:30 a.m. after police stopped

his 1988 Cadillac at the corner of Long Beach Boulevard and 23rd

Street in Long Beach, Newport Beach Police Sgt. Steve Shulman said.

Shulman did not know if Kennedy was affiliated with a gang but

said the gang-unit officers had the information to locate him. He

would not discuss Kennedy’s alleged involvement in the case, citing

the ongoing investigation.

“[The multiple arrests] indicate the investigation is

progressing,” Shulman said. “We’re filling in a lot of the gaps.”

Last week, Newport Beach police arrested 21-year-old Alonso

Machain of Pico Rivera and Myron Gardner, 41, of Long Beach. They and

25-year-old Long Beach resident Skylar DeLeon, already in custody on

a grand theft charge and a probation violation, were each charged

March 4 with two counts of murder.

They are being held without bail in the Orange County Jail and are

due in court in April.

The murder charges include special circumstance allegations that

could give them the death penalty if convicted.

The latest arrest indicates an ever-widening conspiracy in what

police say was a plot laid out for financial gain.

“We believe there could very well be more arrests,” Shulman said.

“We don’t know in how long, or if for sure that will take place.”

Tom Hawks, 57, and Jackie Hawks, 47, of Prescott, Ariz., had been

living on their 55-foot cabin cruiser, the Well Deserved, in Newport

Harbor until their disappearance in mid-November. The last time

anyone heard from them, they left a phone message with a friend

saying they were at sea.

Their bodies have not been found. They are presumed dead.

The couple had advertised the Well Deserved for sale for $440,000

in a boating magazine. DeLeon told police that he had paid cash for

the yacht and saw the couple safely drive off with the money.

Police now say that the transaction never took place and that

documents indicating it had were forged. The Hawkses’ car turned up

in Ensenada, Mexico, in December, after its description and their

disappearance were widely publicized.

Police say that in the days following their disappearance, DeLeon

had twice tried to access their bank account and had called the

Ensenada home where their car was found.

A receipt for bleach and heavy-gauge garbage bags, purchased by

one of DeLeon’s relatives, was found on the Well Deserved, police

said.

The boat is still moored in Newport Harbor.

Kennedy is expected to be arraigned at Harbor Justice Center in

Newport Beach today or Monday.